Love Me Sweet - Scarborough Town Centre

Apparently Japanese cheesecakes are still in demand.  No more hour long lineups at Mr Tetsu on Bay St., but I did hear somewhat recently lineups can still be found at Mr Tetsu in Unionville.  So if you don't want to wait in line, an alternative is Love Me Sweet.  This particular location I visited was inside Scarborough Town Centre.  No lineup at all, not sure if it was because it was still early in the morning, or that because there's so many Japanese cheesecake options, the demand has been spread thinner.

Now on to Love Me Sweet's cheesecake.  Taste wise, tastes good, just like any other Japanese cheesecake.  Slight tang from the cream cheese, light and fluffy and not too sweet.  Texture wise, it almost seemed like there were two layers in the cake.  Majority of the cake had the same moist texture, but the top centimetre of the cake I found to be dry.

Japanese Cheesecake

Love Me Sweet - Scarborough Town Centre

300 Borough Drive, Suite 226
Toronto, ON 

M1P 4P5

Phone:  (647) 894-1399

Hours:   Monday - Friday 10:00a - 9:00p

              Saturday 9:30a - 9:00p

              Sunday 11:00a - 7:00p

https://lovemesweet.ca

Fritter King

I have found it!  Far, but I have found it!  Ever since my favourite congee restaurant closed a few years back, I have been on the search for the perfect bowl of congee, steamed rice noodle, and fritter. Many have suggested Sam's Congee Delight, would be the go to.  However, I was disappointed.  Not only is it super busy, but it just didn't hit the spot for me.  But now my go to spot has been found.  Fritter King in Mississauga.  Yes it is far from home, but close to work.

While Fritter King is no fancy place, you may not necessarily want this to be a date night restaurant, it's great for when you want comfort in a bowl.  We ordered chicken congee, fritter, plain steamed rice noodle, and rice noodle with beef and enoki mushrooms.  The congee is the real deal, slow cooked, homey rice flavour, like your mom made it on the stove.  Good amount of chicken.

Chicken Congee

The fritter, one of the main reasons why I wanted to come.  There are few restaurants that make their own fritters.  Most just order from a factory that makes these fritters, and just  refries when ordered.  Their fritters are so fresh, and greaseless!  As i'm eating, I see people come in and to buy bags of them to take home.  I did the same a few days later, and my mom couldn't stop raving about them.

Dough Fritter

Of course we ordered steamed rice noodles.  It's the perfect meal companion to congee!  My favourite is the plain steamed rice noodle where you would douse with sweetened soy sauce, sesame sauce, hot sauce and sesame seeds.  So thin, soft and silky. They also make these fresh to order here as well.  You can watch them make them, as they make them in their open kitchen near the entrance.  As you eat it's like a mini show (they make the dough fritter and steamed rice noodle at the front of the restaurant, stir fried dishes are made in the back kitchen).  I have to say I didn't like the beef enoki rice noodle as much, the rice noodle was thicker.  I guess to hold up to the filling?

Plain Steamed Rice Noodle

Steamed Beef Enoki Rice Noodle

Fritter King
1177 Central Parkway W. Suite 9,
Mississauga, ON
L5C 4P3

Phone: (905) 268-0938

Hours: Monday - Thursday 800a - 900p
Friday - Saturday 800a - 1000p
Sunday 800a - 900p

Kinton Ramen Hwy 7

Kinton Ramen has opened a location in Markham along Highway 7.   Ramen close to home?  Yes please!  Opening during the perfect time of the year too.  There's nothing better than to slurp a hot bowl of soup noodles during the cold winter to warm your body up.  Out of all the ramen restaurants that have opened uptown and downtown, Kinton remains my favorite.  What makes Kinton my favourite?  The broth.  Their broth is always silky smooth and full of flavour.

My husband found out from a friend on Facebook that Kinton is doing their soft launch right now and was begging to go for dinner.  Official opening is Saturday January 28.  This morning I saw on their Facebook page that they're opening for lunch, so we popped in for a bite.  This Kinton is the most spacious i've been to (I have only been to their Baldwin and North York location).  And I guess because it's during the soft opening phase, it was busy all the tables were taken, but not overly busy.  I'm thinking that after the grand opening, it will get busier.  

Menu wise, it's pretty much the same as all the other locations with ramen being their focus.  We ordered their original ramen with pork with thin noodle (which is the equivalent of what other ramen shops call shio ramen), original ramen with pork with extra thick noodle, and original karaage.  The broth was as good as I remember, thick and velvety, i'm salivating as i'm thinking of it.  The broth is thick enough so it thinly coats your tongue.  No chunks of unappealing fat floating around which is a thumbs up from me.  Both the thin and thick noodle was cooked to a perfect al dente.  Egg was good but I think a slight tad overcooked.  There was the beginning formation of the powdery yolk on the outer edge.  Pork wise, I'm not sure if this is the way the pork is served with ramen at the other locations, but instead of getting a choice of pork shoulder or pork belly, you get one slice of each.  Taste of the pork shoulder was same as the other locations, but thinner.  The pork belly was what was different for me.  The slice of pork belly was smaller, and thinner than the Baldwin location, and the charring of the pork belly was minimal, so there was less of the smokey flavour.  Overall, still better than other ramen shops.

Kinton Hwy 7 Menu

Original Ramen with Extra Thick Noodle

Egg

The karaage was good, 5 pieces of deep fried thigh meat served piping hot.  So hot that I burned the roof of my mouth, I couldn't help it, I was too excited!  My husband thought that the batter/coating could be a bit thicker to make it crunchier, which I agree.  But it was still crispy enough.

Original Karaage

So super happy a good ramen place is now open in the Markham!  One small gripe is that service is a bit slow, it took longer than normal to get our ramen, but i'm assuming that it's because their still working out their kinks during this soft opening phase.  I'm thinking that it's going to get super busy in the future, even with the pain in the butt parking.....

Kinton Ramen Hwy 7
505 Highway 7 East, Unit 54-58
Markham, ON
L3T 7T1

Phone: (905) 597-8775

Hours: Hours currently are soft opening, not sure if it will be different after their grand opening.  Check their Facebook page for updates.  https://www.facebook.com/kintonramen/?fref=ts

http://www.kintonramen.com